Welcome! My name is Karen Sobel, and I am a reference and instruction librarian at the
Auraria Library in downtown Denver, Colorado. Auraria Library serves the populations
of the University of Colorado Denver (my official employer), Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the Community College of Denver, as well as the public.
My "Primary Job"
At Auraria, I perform library instruction sessions for freshman composition, English as a Second Language, psychology, and English literature courses. I also play a major role in instructional design efforts at the library. Currently, Lorrie Evans and I are guiding our colleagues' efforts to migrate our class and subject guides to our new LibGuides site. I am also further developing our in-house virtual reference service, AskAuraria, by continuing to train colleagues in providing coverage. Along with Web Librarian Nina McHale, I am also working to refine the techie end of the service, and provide more specific service offerings.
With Auraria colleagues Lorrie Evans and Gayle Bradbeer, I have developed a course for CU Online called "Navigating Library Research." The course focuses on general library research skills for students in all majors. The course is currently available to students at CU Denver and the Community College of Denver. A version for Metropolitan State College of Denver will be unveiled shortly.
At the reference desk I function as a generalist, but I'm especially enthusiastic about questions involving literature and psychology. I also continue my mission to reach out to freshmen at the desk.
A Special Honor
The Association of College and Research Libraries named me its Member of the Week for 15-21 September, 2008. Thanks, ACRL!
Research
I have recently begun some exciting research with Auraria colleagues Nina McHale and Lorrie Evans, and Adams State College's Brooke Phillips Andrade. We are gathering data on the "digital divide" in both urban and rural academic libraries, and exploring how librarians can best identify patrons who lack basic computer skills.
Another research project aims at improving instruction for college freshmen. With Dr. Kenneth Wolf, Interim Director of Learning Outcomes Assessment at the University of Colorado Denver, I am comparing tools for assessment student learning in the library classroom.
Finally, colleague Meg Brown-Sica and I are exploring the use of Participatory Action Research in our design of the Auraria Library's Learning Commons.
Publications
(Forthcoming) Sobel, Karen and Dr. Ignacio J. Ferrer-Vinent. “Academic Reference Serving a Diverse Student Body Thrives at the Auraria Library: A Case Report,” Colorado Libraries.
(In press) Sobel, Karen. “Evaluating and Enhancing the Latino Literature Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill.” North Carolina Libraries 66:4(Spring 2009).
Brown-Sica, Margaret, Karen Sobel, and Denise Pan. “Learning for All: Teaching Students, Faculty and Staff with Screencasting,” Public Services Quarterly. 5.2(April-June 2009), 81-97.
Sobel, Karen. “Promoting Library Reference Services to First-Year Undergraduate Students: What Works?” Reference and User Services Quarterly 48.4(Summer 2009), 362-371.
Evans, Lorrie, Nina McHale, and Karen Sobel. “Review: LibraryH3lp.” The Charleston Advisor. 10.4(April 2009), 25-29.
Evans, Lorrie, Nina McHale, and Karen Sobel. “Review: LibGuides.” The Charleston Advisor 10.3(January 2009), 47-49.
Presentations
- Denver Transfer Initiative: “Where is Your Future Without the Library?” Auraria Campus, 15 May 2009. With Lorrie Evans, Orlando Archibeque, Diane Turner, and Linda Tietjen.
- Panel Discussion: "Hot Topics in Frontline Reference," American Library Association Midwinter Conference 2009, with Lorrie Evans and Nina McHale
- "Apples & Oranges: A Comparison of Proprietary Chat Reference Software Versus Free Instant Messenger Services." Reference Renaissance, August 2008. (With Nina McHale and Lorrie Evans.)
- "Working Smarter, Not Harder: Teaching Students and Staff with Screencasting," American Library Association Annual Conference, June/July 2008. (With Meg Brown-Sica and Denise Pan.)
- "Why Do Freshmen Visit the Reference Desk?" Colorado Academic Library Consortium Summit 2008, 23 May 2008.
Education
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:
Master of Science in Library Science, 2007
Master of Arts in English, 2004
The Pennsylvania State University:
Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English, 2002
Minor in Psychology, 2002
Personal
I am an avid reader, letter-writer, chef (more or less), ragtime pianist, classic movie buff, and hiker. My favorite authors are Isabel Allende, Mark Helprin, J.K. Rowling, and above all, Salman Rushdie. My husband Eric and I live in the Rocky Mountain foothills west of Denver.
